Along with warmer temperatures, winter also brought a series of major storms and floods: notably a mid-July deluge that forced the evacuation of half of Westport. Niwa meteorologist Nava Fedaeff also said 76 locations across the country that experienced a record or near-record warm winter. The winter of 1970 was at the time New Zealand's warmest winter on record only to be beaten by the winter of 1971. "The winter of 1971 now stands in 13th place of the temperature rankings while the winter of 1970 is 18th." "These similar winters, decades apart, show us that there are key natural ingredients to getting a warm winter," Fedaeff said.

Source: New Zealand Herald September 03, 2021 04:52 UTC